Facebook’s New Oversight Board Draws Support Across Party Lines
Facebook’s “Supreme Court” just published their first decisions, overturning four of the five cases they reviewed. Next up, the court will review Facebook’s indefinite suspension of former President Trump’s accounts.
NRG’s latest polling gauges public opinion on the Oversight Board, reactions to its decisions and Facebook’s new approach to content moderation.
In 2020, Facebook created an independent Oversight Board to make decisions about the removal or retention of certain Facebook posts.
How does it work? Last week, the Oversight Board published decisions on the first set of cases they chose to review. Upon review of these cases, the Board overturned four of Facebook’s decisions, upheld one and issued nine policy recommendations to the company. The Board’s decisions are binding and cannot be overruled by CEO Mark Zuckerberg or anyone else at Facebook.
The Board’s decisions come in the wake of widespread bans or restrictions of former President Trump and affiliated accounts across social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit and Twitch. The Oversight Board has announced that it will take up Facebook’s decision to indefinitely suspend the former President’s access to his Facebook and Instagram account. The Board has also invited Americans to provide feedback on the Trump ban, providing a link to a website where users can voice their opinion.
To better understand Americans’ beliefs about the role of Facebook’s Oversight Board within the broader content moderation conversation, National Research Group polled 1000 Americans on February 2nd 2021, following the announcement of the Board’s new rulings on January 28th.
Over two-thirds of Americans have heard of the Oversight Board, and the majority believe in its intentions to make Facebook a more positive and safe space
65% of Americans across both sides of the aisle are familiar with or aware of the Oversight Board, led by Millennials at 72%.
However, awareness of recent actions by the Board to restore certain controversial posts to Facebook is still limited. Fewer than half of those surveyed say they heard about the decision, with younger audiences more in the know (56% of Gen Zs and Millennials) than their more mature counterparts (40% of Gen Xs and Boomers).
Although the public at large is still becoming aware of the Board’s existence and decisions, they trust that it’s well-intentioned and intended to make Facebook a better platform. One in two Americans believe Facebook created the Board to make its platform a more positive and safe space. Gen Z and Millennials lead this trust at 55% and 60%, respectively.
Americans support the Board as a way for Facebook to hold itself accountable, but still need greater confidence in its autonomy
58% of Americans believe the Board is a way for Facebook to hold itself accountable and ensure correct decisions are made, and 54% of Americans support the Board’s power to approve or overturn Facebook’s decisions.
Support for the Board’s existence is fairly strong across all demos, with only 12% of those surveyed in explicit opposition. Support is strongest among the two-thirds of Americans who already knew about the Board at 67%, suggesting that familiarity breeds support. Further, both liberals and conservatives support the board at 61% and 59%, respectively.
However, skepticism remains on Facebook allowing the Board its autonomy. 52% of all respondents express concern that Facebook might have influence over its Board, rather than allowing it to act as an independent entity. This concern is most pronounced among conservatives at 56%, as well as Gen Z at 59%, who may have grown up with a certain level of distrust in social media platforms.
Although there is bipartisan support for the Board and its power over Facebook, conservatives exhibit greater cynicism over Facebook avoiding responsibility (48% vs. 38%), using the Oversight Board to generate positive PR (54% vs. 43%), and influencing the Oversight Board’s decisions (56% vs. 50%).
Are freedom of speech and online safety mutually exclusive?
Two-thirds of participants think that the Board should focus on preventing the spread of harmful content, even if it limits free speech and expression. Of all the beliefs we tested, this one received the highest agreement, accompanied by the greatest divisions along party lines.
Liberals (72%) and moderates (65%) drive the two-thirds of people overall that feel the Oversight Board should focus on preventing the spread of harmful content, even if it limits what users can post on Facebook platforms. In contrast, conservatives disagree, with 54% saying they believe the Board should protect freedom of speech and expression, even if it leads to the spread of harmful content.
This is an area the researchers at NRG have been monitoring closely, as part of our more expansive series on social media and public policy.
In May 2020, NRG produced a study, Social Media, Arbiter of Truth?, following Twitter’s decision to flag a tweet from then-president Donald Trump’s account for “glorifying violence” in the wake of instances of police brutality at the protests in remembrance of George Floyd. We found that, while 54% of Americans supported Twitter adding a fact-checking label to the tweet, the issue of fact-checking was highly divisive along party lines.
Liberals supported the decision at 76%; however, only 35% of conservatives said Twitter was justified, with 59% saying that Twitter’s community guidelines flag was a form of censorship. Conservatives were also much more likely to say social media companies are over-stepping their bounds in cases like this (63% vs. 20%) and should not be in the business of determining what is true or not (57% vs. 28%).
The issue of online censorship came to a head following the January 6th, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol, when platforms like Facebook and Twitter attempted to silence the former president’s calls for insurrection by banning or suspending his accounts. Many on the right saw this as a deliberate attack on their party, and on free speech in general, with Republican leaders like Mike Pompeo and Ted Cruz voicing their opposition.
Because these companies are private entities, they are not beholden to the 1st Amendment and independently determine whether a post or account violates their community guidelines. However, with Facebook’s creation of the Oversight Board, the social media leader significantly disrupted this somewhat enigmatic decision-making process. And whether or not they agree with the ban or Board decisions, Americans are supportive of an independent board reviewing certain Facebook decisions. This change is most effective in establishing trust and instilling a sense of fairness among conservatives, who are highly in favor of the Board, and who were most vocal that previous content decisions were evidence of a political bias.
In the data, divisions across party lines appear, especially when it comes to beliefs about the creation and purpose of the Oversight Board. However, we see unifying support for the Board and its existence, as Americans clearly see a need for this kind of independent review, whether it’s to increase safety on social media platforms, or to protect against censorship.
On January 29th 2021, the Board announced that it had accepted Facebook’s referral of the Trump ban review and would respond with a decision within 90 days. They will continue to accept public feedback on the case until February 8th 2021.
Access the full infographic | Facebook’s New Oversight Board Draws Support Across Party Lines
Access the full infographic | Social Media: The Arbiter of Truth?
